


Destiny Diverted

by beren



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-29
Updated: 2009-05-29
Packaged: 2017-11-03 04:08:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/377013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beren/pseuds/beren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The universe has ways of making things right and Merlin has ways of subverting even that. Prophesy was fulfilled, but there were reasons for everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Destiny Diverted

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Soph for the beta. [Edit - note to self, get Soph to beta summary as well!]

Merlin looked over the battle field at the dead and the dying and knew that this could not go on. The magic in his veins was swirling and calling to him and telling him that things needed to change. He felt the presence beside him as soon as his companion walked to the edge of the bluff to stand beside him and he turned away from the devastation.

"It's time," he said, knowing that his companion would be feeling the same thing.

It was funny, he always thought of the man beside him as younger even though there were a scant few years between them and they had lived for far longer than a human lifetime. They both still looked young and had done since the day they shook off their mortal shells, but looking into his companion's eyes he saw the age that was in both of them. They could so easily have been enemies, but Merlin didn't know what he would have done without the other man now. To live all those years alone, waiting, would have destroyed him.

"It is," his companion replied and smiled; they had both been waiting for this day.

The need was great and the times hard, but it was still a day to rejoice.

Those last moments were etched on Merlin's mind and replayed over and over in his dreams, but at last he would have something to replace them. He had almost killed the man who took his hand as he held it out; almost wiped him from existence as his magic rose up and demanded revenge, but something had stopped him. Something in the look he had been given that day had held him off and instead his magic had taken a different course. Neither of them had been young then, still in their first lifetime with him already grey and his magic had reached out and reset the clock.

With a thought Merlin moved them from the edge of what was yet another battle field to a place neither of them had been for over two hundred years. The magic woven into the fabric of the earth reached out to them and recognised them, enfolding them both and welcoming them home. It was like stepping back in time almost and Merlin could not help remembering back to the end of Arthur's glorious reign.

Corruption had entered the magnificent Camelot by then, a corruption Merlin had been unable to fight. All he had had to be thankful for was that it had not touched Arthur, not until that last moment when they had been betrayed. When Mordred had plunged the sword through Arthur's heart, Merlin had thought the younger man one of the enemy, one of those who wished Camelot for themselves, but the one look Mordred had given him had stilled his call for vengeance.

Merlin remembered the anger and the pain even now after so much time and the feelings cut at him, but he was almost free. Soon the agony in his heart that not even the man beside him had ever been able to soften would be gone.

Mordred had killed Arthur, just as had been prophesied, but it had not been because the druid had hated Arthur. When their eyes had met as Merlin's hand had lifted full of wizard's fire he had seen that Mordred expected to die, expected to be wiped from the face of the earth, but he had also seen something else; sorrow. In an instant Merlin had made a choice and he had bound Mordred rather than killing him, taking the other sorcerer with him as he removed Arthur from the fighting.

It felt strange to look back and remember all the fear and mistrust, especially as he held Mordred's hand in his own and they joined their powers together to open the hill side where they stood. Alone Merlin's power was the most amazing the world had ever seen; working together with Mordred they could almost perform miracles.

Thinking back it seemed liked they had been different people completely, almost another life and Merlin still wasn't sure quite what stopped him from a valid revenge. After Arthur had died in his arms, Mordred had told him of a higher purpose, of a design within the universe that required certain things. One of those designs was the immortality of Arthur Pendragon, a thing that could not be achieved because a soul had been forced by magic into the world too soon, into a mortal shell. A design that required that that body die to be reborn by magic. What was most surprising of all was that Merlin had believed.

They had hidden Arthur then; surrounded him in layers of enchantment and slow working charms, their own magic changing them as they worked such great powers until they were both young men again, both as immortal as they intended Arthur to be, and then they had waited. Merlin had watched Camelot fall to ruin with sadness in his heart, but with Mordred always by his side as they watched and refused to interfere.

All they had known was gone and danger threatened the very land itself: it was time for Arthur to rise.

Together they walked into the dark tunnel which had not been opened in two centuries, letting it close behind them as they entered the hill. Merlin could not help stopping as the entered the central chamber and he saw the figure lying there on the bed they had created for him. Excalibur stood to one side, cased in stone, waiting for the king's hand to pull it free and Arthur waited in the centre of the room, covered in a shell of magic that obscured him from the world.

When they had left him it had looked like fine spiun silk, but the cocoon was now almost like crystal as far as the eye was concerned. Merlin could not see Arthur inside, only reflections of pale skin and he felt his heart beating fast.

"Do you think he will like me?" Mordred asked and brought Merlin from his thoughts.

It was a question that surprised him, but he knew it shouldn't have, after all, Mordred had never really known Arthur when they were men. Mordred very rarely showed any insecurities, but when he looked at his long time companion, Merlin realised that this was one of the few times. Turning away from where Arthur lay for a moment, he stepped close to Mordred and placed his hand on the other man's face.

"He will love you as I do," he said and place a kiss on Mordred's lips.

Mordred smiled just a little at that.

"He will probably call you an idiot and try and order you around," Merlin added and grinned, letting the excitement he was feeling slowly bubble up through him, "but he will love you."

At that Mordred actually laughed, only a short chuckle, but it was what Merlin had been after. He and Arthur had grown as men, their official relationship changing as Arthur became king and Merlin's power became known, but at its heart it had always been the same. Arthur had never lost the habit of ordering him around and he had never lost the habit of occasionally doing as he was told, usually with very bad grace. Everything remained so clear in Merlin's mind that it was almost as if he was stepping back in time as he finally walked towards the bed.

With Mordred at his shoulder he reached out and touched the seemingly crystal covering over Arthur and it dissolved into a fine powder as if only thought had been holding it together. With a wave of his hand, Merlin sent the dust scattering to the corners of the cavern, revealing the perfect body of Arthur Pendragon.

They had removed Arthur's armour and his clothes when they had laid him to rest; cleaning him of all human dirt and Merlin felt his breath catch at seeing the naked beauty of the man he had loved almost from the moment he had first met him. Arthur's skin was perfect; every scar that Arthur had gained in life was gone, apart from the one over his heart. Every imperfection had been removed and Arthur was lying there as young as the day Merlin had first seen him.

"I had forgotten how he looked in his youth," Mordred said quietly, almost reverently; "he shone didn't he?"

"For his whole life," Merlin replied with a nod, "but this it before the weight of kingship dimmed that light a little."

Arthur had been a great king just as Merlin had known he would be, but he had been out of time; a great man a few years before he was supposed to be. Mordred had once tried to explain how Merlin and he were the universes answer to put that right; how he, Mordred, had always known he was destined to end the first life of Arthur and that Merlin would restore it. That Mordred had survived and become part of the future as well had always seemed to Merlin as if it shocked the other man quite a lot. Merlin always felt very satisfied at having gone his own way in at least part of his destiny.

"Only one thing will wake him," he said, turning back to Arthur.

"Love," Mordred said simply.

In many spells and rituals that Merlin had seen and used over his time, love meant fealty or love of family, but not in this case. This magic had been woven with his heart and soul, pulling Mordred's magic in as well and there was only one way to call Arthur from his long sleep. Without waiting any longer, Merlin began to shed his clothes. He was half way through when he realised that Mordred was just watching him.

"This needs you as well," Merlin said, looking at the man who had been his lover for a very long time.

Mordred actually appeared shocked by that.

"But he was yours," Mordred said even as his eyes ran over Arthur again.

"But you're mine too," Merlin replied feeling the old passions stirring as well as the new.

He and Arthur had been lovers for all but the first year or so they had known each other and Merlin had always considered himself as Arthur's, but Mordred had become part of that as well.

"Arthur will get used to the idea," he said and smiled; it wouldn't be the first time he and Arthur had had another man in their bed and he was sure Arthur would understand very quickly.

No one had ever been able to say that Arthur Pendragon did not have a big heart.

When Mordred finally moved to begin undressing, Merlin went back to what he had been doing, leaving his clothes where they fell in his haste. He had been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time and the anticipation was swirling in his belly. Arthur would be his again, alive and vital and this time as he was meant to have been the first time. The king of legend would return and they would have a chance to defeat the darkness that was coming. Merlin did not know what the future held as he climbed onto the bed, but he knew that at last he would be whole again.

Arthur's skin was icy cold to the touch and Merlin laid himself down one side of his still lover. Almost straight away he could feel the heat being leeched from his body into Arthur's and he welcomed Mordred to the bed as his other lover matched his position on Arthur's other side. This was not about ritual or spell, it was about instinct and raw emotion and Merlin let his mind fly free and his baser needs take over.

His magic began to move as he moved his hands and he began to touch Arthur on a physical and metaphysical level. Learning from his lead, he felt Mordred begin to do the same and Merlin set about reacquainting himself with the beautiful man beside him. Arthur's skin was smooth and soft and where they touched him was beginning to warm as well and Merlin let himself enjoy the wonderful expanse. His body responded in kind, skin tingling and cock hardening as his mind filled with sex and magic; a very heady mixture indeed.

It seemed to take a long time to find the spark of life in Arthur; the tiny flame of existence that they had trapped within him all that time ago, but when Merlin found it, he began to feed it. He poured all his love and his power into the man he loved more than his own life and he could feel that spark growing. As he touched, gentle and intimate, he willed Arthur back to life. It was the most intricate of dances and when his body sometimes brushed against Mordred's he could feel Mordred's magic moving in a similar reel, so different from his own and yet the same as well. Mordred was all earth and nature and he was elemental and alien, but they wound together in perfect harmony as they had discovered they could do after that fateful day.

Merlin wanted Arthur, wanted him with every fibre of his being. He wanted him as a friend; he wanted him sexually; he wanted his spiritually. There was no part of Arthur which Merlin did not crave and he called his golden king back to life.

Leaning up and over Arthur's recumbent form, he looked down at Arthur's still features and remembered them filled with life. He needed to see that again and he leant down, placing his lips on Arthur's and breathing out into Arthur's mouth. With that breath went the core of his power; the light of his very existence as he shared it with Arthur. It felt like he was falling, falling into the depths of Arthur's being and then Arthur breathed and it was as if he was slammed back into his own body.

The sound of that one breath broke the calm composure that had been hiding the well of doubt about being able to do this and he stared down at Arthur's face, desperately waiting to see the light return to Arthur's eyes. He felt like a boy again, unsure and a little afraid of his own powers and he needed a signal from Arthur. When long eyelashes finally flicked back and beautiful, intense blue eyes blinked up at him, he laughed; a small excited, almost hysterical sound. Arthur was really alive.

"Merlin?" Arthur's voice was soft as if he had not been asleep for two hundred years.

Merlin just leant down and kissed his king, his lover and revelled in the fact that Arthur kissed him back.

When he finally drew back, Arthur's face went from peaceful to confused and he saw Arthur's eyes flick to Mordred.

"He killed me," Arthur said, eyes full of memory.

"So we could bring you back as you were meant to be," Merlin replied, knowing that Arthur would need to know everything, but not caring as he revelled in the life in Arthur's eyes.

Arthur frowned at him then and tried to push him away a little, clearly trying to think.

"Later," Merlin said, feeling his needs and desires rising, "I'll explain later."

He had kept his feelings clamped down for too long and he had to release them; needing to confirm to his whole being that Arthur was indeed alive and his. Mordred moved, even before he did, seeming to understand what was going through his head. With the space available Merlin threw his leg over Arthur, lifting himself up so he was all put sitting on the newly awakened king. He needed touch, he needed sensation to back up the emotions swirling around his body and he aligned them perfectly, thrusting down his hips so his cock rubbed along side Arthur's.

"I need," Merlin couldn't even explain what he needed because he was out of words, but Arthur had seen him in this state a couple of times before and to Merlin's unending gratitude, fell into old habits.

This was about reaffirming desire and love and life and Arthur's arms came up to hold him as he moved them together. Every spark of arousal that their bodies touching caused rebuilt what had been missing for so long and Merlin's body sang with it. It was hard, it was fast and it was all about passion as Arthur responded to him in kind and when Arthur reached between them to wrap long fingers around both their cocks, increasing the pleasure, Merlin put his head back and keened.

His love for Mordred was one thing, but this was different and he could only surrender to it. When the dragon had spoken of destiny it had never told him about the bone aching need he would have for Arthur through his entire life or the way his soul begged for Arthur's touch. When he was with Arthur like this he did not need to consciously know what he had been created for, he just knew with every cell in his body.

When he came with Arthur's name on his lips his magic flared and he had to lock his arms to prevent himself falling onto Arthur in a boneless heap. He had no control, no real awareness except for the sensation of hands on skin for long moments and he felt like it was he who had died and returned to life, not Arthur.

"Merlin," Arthur's voice brought him slowly back to reality and he opened his eyes to find that Arthur was all but holding him up.

He had missed those strong arms and for a moment he had to blink back the ridiculous urge to cry. Grown men just didn't do that.

"Are you back?" Arthur asked, looking into his eyes.

Merlin nodded.

"We are all back," he said and for the briefest moment managed to glance over at Mordred who was watching them with wide open eyes.

Destiny had not intended this, he could feel that as the reality of existence shifted around him, but the rightness of it settled in his soul. Arthur would need explanations, Mordred would need to come to understand Arthur the way Merlin had and it was going to take time, but for a moment he could almost see the future. He had never been a seer, that was not his gift, but what he sensed was good and he looked down at Arthur and knew the world was going to be a better place.

**The End**


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